The 87 Most Interesting Movies of the 2012 European Film Market (or 87 Movies You Probably Haven’t Heard of But Need On Your Radar)

Bestiaire

The Pitch: “Animals/People: Along the rhythm of the changing seasons they watch one another. Bestiaire unfolds like a filmic picture book about mutual observation, about peculiar perception.”

The Point: A truly clever concept that delivers a unique movie-watching experience. It’s a doc that works unnervingly well on the deep end, and even without the subtext, it’s still gorgeous moving photography of animals.

Beyond the Black Rainbow

The Pitch: “Set in a futuristic 1983, Elena finds herself held against her will in a mysterious facility under the watchful eye of the sinister Dr. Barry Nyle.”

Black’s Game

The Pitch: “Using a handful of real events; the Ecstasy revolution, armed bank heists, an insurance scam and the biggest drug bust in the country’s history, this is the story of a transformational period for the Icelandic underworld.”

The Point: Seriously, Northern Europeans are really into crime. The real draw here is Nicholas Winding Refn‘s name as executive producer.

Bollywood: The Greatest Love Story Ever Told

The Point: With such a massive presence on the world stage, a documentary about such a huge movie movement might be just the thing to shake hands and introduce itself to those (like me) who shamefully know little about it.

Chicken With Plums

The Pitch: “From the directors of the acclaimed Persepolis – A celebrated violin player slips into his reveries and reveals his poignant secret.”

The Point: The fantasy hinted at in the pitch and the pedigree of Persepolis.

Cleanskin

The Pitch: “Ewan is a secret service agent working deep undercover. When the agency confirms there is a terrorist cell operating in London, Ewan is given a new mission: to find and kill them all before they strike again.”

The Point: Charlotte Rampling co-starring is one thing, but Sean Bean seems to make solid films that don’t get much written about them. The only response to almost missing out on Black Death is to keep a sharp eye on Bean. Plus, “Sharp Eye on Bean” is as bad a title as “Cleanskin.”

Comes a Bright Day

The Pitch: “An offbeat, coming-of-age love story set during the armed robbery of London’s most exclusive jewelers. Sometimes funny, often dark, always captivating and never what you expect.”

The Point: Love story in the middle of a robbery? Sounds great. With Imogen Poots? Sounds even better.

Coming Home (A Moi Seule)

The Pitch: “Gaelle is suddenly released by her kidnapper Vincent, after eight years of captivity. As she had to earn her freedom day-by-day against him, she has to do so again, facing her parents a world she discovers.”

The Point: That’s one serious concept, one rife with dark corners and difficulties for a young woman probably destroyed by her imprisonment.

The Courier

The Pitch: “A specialist carrier is hired to deliver a mysterious case to the underworld’s most dangerous hitman.”

Dark Horse

The Pitch: “Abe is a 30-something who lives with his parents and collects toys. Miranda is a 30-something who has moved back in with her parents after her literary/academic career crashed. Out of desperation, Miranda agrees to marry Abe.”

The Point: It should be noted that Christopher Walken is involved, but maybe it’s more important that it’s new dramedy work from Todd Solondz. Pick which name perks your ears more and run with it.

Dead Before Dawn 3D

The Pitch: “A bunch of college kids accidentally unleash an evil curse that causes people to kill themselves and turn into Zombie Demons (aka Zemons).”

The Point: Purposefully ridiculous, it apparently doesn’t get going until the zombies show up, but when it does, the kitschy horror goes full comedy with impressive make-up work.

Death For Sale

The Pitch: “Three young adults are committing petty crimes in their hometown. Boredom, betrayal, blind love and loss of identity are the elements that bring three friends together only to lose their way little-by-little.”

A veteran of writing about movies for nearly a decade, Scott Beggs has been the Managing Editor of Film School Rejects since 2009. Despite speculation, he is not actually Walter Mathau's grandson. See? He can't even spell his name right.

More from Around the Web:

Reject Nation

4 Comments

Leave a comment

Comment Policy: No hate speech allowed. If you must argue, please debate intelligently. Comments containing selected keywords or outbound links will be put into moderation to help prevent spam. Film School Rejects reserves the right to delete comments and ban anyone who doesn't follow the rules. We also reserve the right to modify any curse words in your comments and make you look like an idiot. Thank You!